Addressing Chronic Conditions Through Community Partnerships: A Formative Evaluation of "Taking on Diabetes"
Date
2004-09
Authors
Palsbo, Susan E.
Kroll, Thilo
McNeil, Melissa
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Commonwealth Fund
Abstract
Community partnerships—coalitions of health plans, physicians, and local groups—can help overcome organizational boundaries and allow competing parties to work together to focus on a shared goal, like the treatment of a chronic condition. In this study, researchers evaluated three community partnership projects sponsored by a national trade association of health plans. These initiatives, focused on quality mprovement in diabetes care, were located in three very different markets in the United States: Albuquerque, New Mexico; Kansas City, Missouri; and Westchester County, New York. Successful community partnerships, the researchers found, can be formed from different starting points and by following different paths. Instead of following a strict set of protocols, the researchers uggest that these groups pay careful attention to principles of group dynamic theory. In addition, a neutral facilitator, like a trade association, can build bridges and help competing concerns be less proprietary.
Description
Additional copies of this (#766) and other Commonwealth Fund publications are available
online at www.cmwf.org.
Keywords
Diabetes, Quality improvement, Group dynamics